Dave Belcher deserves $2,000 extra for work on the new Senior Center, township officials decided.
The Township Board voted 4-3 to grant a $2,000 stipend to Belcher, building director, for his work as general contractor for the senior center.
The center, which was completed in 12 weeks, came in about $15,000 less than the $250,000 budgeted.
“It’s not something the township has done in the past,? said Trustee Dan Kelly. ‘I absolutely believe however that we have to find someway to acknowledge the extra work that Mr. Belcher did in this case.?
Supervisor Dave Wagner, and trustees Kelly, Charles Dunn, and Dan Travis voted in favor of the bonus. Clerk Shelagh Vanderveen, Treasurer Jim Wenger, and Trustee Larry Rosso voted against .
Rosso said he was concerned about the ‘reverberations? on those who did special projects outside of their job descriptions in the past.
‘I just think morale-wise it’s not good because it looks there is a special partiality that is shown,? said Rosso. ‘We’re going to have the retroactive requests of ‘because I did this back then.? I just don’t think it’s a good idea especially in public employment.?
Wagner disagreed.
‘We cannot go retroactive from 10 years ago, 15 years ago. This is looking forward. It came up with this particular project. I think the department heads would appreciate us doing something like this,? said Wagner. ‘It gives incentive to look to the future and to know that the board is willing to do something extra for them.?
Travis voted for the stipend with reservations.
‘Mr. Belcher one of our finest employees regarding skills and abilities. If I were looking at a comparative analysis of the private versus public sector, I would have no problem of incentives of this nature,? he said.
‘But as a public sector, it’s very different than a corporate world. I cannot find in my experience any reference to bonuses or that sort of thing granted to employees of public units of government.?
If money where given on the basis of overtime and justified by recepts and time logs, he would have ‘no problem of some way recognizing that additional, over and above top payment for a merit,? Travis said.
Kelly said he shares Travis’s concerns regarding merit pay.
Many employees ‘go above and beyond? and work overtime, but most of what they do is within their job descriptions, he said.
This was the case for Belcher, Kelly said.
‘He prepared blue prints, negotiated contracts with a number of suppliers at fantastic rates for the township,? said Kelly. ‘He basically acted as the general contractor overseeing the construction. All of which is not in his job qualification or duties.?
Dunn said he has looked through the Statutory Authority book and found nothing prohibiting them from paying a bonus because it doesn’t affect the salary pay.
‘I believe that we should have this type of flexibility in rewarding our employees and again it’s a relatively nominal amount. I don’t believe it pays back Mr. Belcher and his expenses let alone any above and beyond,? Dunn said.
‘The employees here should know if they go above and beyond that there may be something there for them. It’s discretionary, we don’t even have to give merit pay next year if we don’t want to no matter how many applications we have, but at the same time I think it’s something that is appropriate and I think it’s fiscally responsible on our part.?
Wenger said he was concerned about criteria for bonus pay.
‘Do we want to go forward with this? And if we are, are we going to have criteria? What would take an event to qualify? Could there be multiple qualifiers??
Rosso said they should establish criteria for ‘special projects.?
‘I have no problem if we have ‘special projects,? because if you get into this merit pay, it may be that someone is working better and more efficiently, which is a judgment call,? he said.
Clerk Shelagh Vanderveen said bonuses would create a management nightmare.
“Already there is dissension amongst departments. They look at salaries; they look at job descriptions, now you throw this into the mix,? she said. ‘It’s only going to make matters worse and I think for us it’s going to be a real management problem to decipher whose worthy, who’s not worthy. I just don’t think it’s a place we want to go.?
Kelly said the board should have discretion.
‘I know the concerns of opening the door of a merit or bonus pay, but I also know the benefits of that,? he said. ‘I would think that the board should take on the responsibility of looking at it on a case by case basis.?
Township resident Neil Wallace said he proposed a merit system for employees in the past.
‘But if you’re going to do it on a ad hoc basis, a one-off time, that doesn’t make sense to me,? said Wallace. ‘There ought to be a system in place for determining in advanced what they’re going to do about merit pay and for measuring it.?
Belcher said he did not expect a bonus.
‘I would do it again regardless and I didn’t expect anything additional, but thank you,? he said.
The senior center project cost $245,942, including new phone system, fire suppression, parking lot lights, and extra dumpters. It was appraised by the assessing department at $360,000.